California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last week signed Senate Bill 85, legislation authored by Senator Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto) to make property tax distribution more equitable for rural counties.

“I applaud the governor for signing this law to help our rural counties get their fair share of property tax dollars. This legislation will help counties put more locally-generated tax dollars to work closer to home,” said Senator Cogdill. “During these difficult economic times, all counties are faced with the difficult choice of putting important programs on the chopping block. However, funding shifts that were intended to help local government have actually hurt some counties, creating an even larger budget challenge.”

To help counties offset local revenue losses from the passage of Proposition 13, the state in 1978 increased general fund support at the local level for education, which helped increase funding for 52 counties. But six counties, Alpine, Lassen, Mariposa, Plumas, Stanislaus, and Trinity actually lose money each year due to this funding shift. Senate Bill 85 limits the amount that the county must transfer to local schools for the next two years and then creates a baseline for future years to save counties hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

In addition, this bill provides relief to Yolo County, which currently receives the smallest share of local property tax revenue, 9 percent versus the statewide average of 17 percent.

Senator Cogdill represents part or all of the counties of Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne.